2022 EDUCATION EDITION
SEEING THE PROGRAM WORK LOCALLY
While Waldrip grew up in the trade, he said many students took some of the agriculture classes with him with- out any background. “I had high school friends that didn’t grow up around it necessarily, and they showed some other species, but they would come and help us with the show cattle throughout the whole process … as much as in depth as they wanted to get into, we were always willing to help and always had open arms,” Waldrip said. “So long as somebody is willing to show up and get their hands dirty and work hard, there’s a ton of people that are willing to teach and get kids involved in all aspects of the game.” Mike Newkirk, an automotive tech teacher at Canyon High School, said some of his students go directly into the industry while others pursue post- secondary work in the eld. His students typically go through four years of automotive tech, from basic principles of the mechanics of cars to more advanced coursework. His classroom also serves as an auto shop for teachers and sta to bring their own parts and have the students work on their vehicles. “I put them to work straight after school if they don’t want to go to post- secondary or college or you know if they want to do something else in life,” Newkirk said. “If they don’t want to go to college, I have industry leaders here [at] local dealerships from San “MR. NEWKIRK GAVE ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET EVERY CERTIFICATION I COULD AT MY AGE.” JAMES ROBINSON, 2022 GRADUATE OF CANYON HIGH SCHOOL
Antonio to South Austin that will hire my guys as they come out of my pro- gram because we are accredited.” One of those recent graduates is James Robinson, who received a schol- arship to UTI but chose instead to go right to work at Grith Ford. “Mr. Newkirk gave me the opportu- nity to get every certication I could at my age. I came out of the Canyon High School automotive program with over 20 certications,” Robinson said. “I wanted to just make money imme- diately; I didn’t want to have to owe it. So I decided that rather than having to wait to start my career and start at the bottom, I can start at the bottom now rather than in four years,” he said. Careers in college CTE pathways also provide a door into elds that allow students to work within the eld they are pursuing a higher degree in to gain experience. Sanjay Patel graduated from NBHS in 2016, and while in school knew he wanted to be in the medical eld and took pre-dental coursework. “I was aspiring to be a dentist, [but] I realized that dentistry is not where I want to be. I still knew I wanted to be somewhere in the health care eld, and that’s when I started exploring what the dierent options I had in health care. I started looking toward administration,” Patel said. After earning a bachelor’s degree in public health from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a master’s in business, he is now interning at a hos- pital in Carrollton. The CTE course he took on medical terminology was also helpful, he said. “[It helped] me learn more about the terminology that medical prac- tices often use. I’d say the practicum course helped me out a lot. Close to
VALERIE GRONA
JAKE WALDRIP
High school Graduated Smithson Valley High School in 2017
High school Graduated from New Braunfels High School in 2014
Ready, Set, Teach CTE certication
Future Farmers of America CTE certication
Texas A&M University, bachelor’s degree in education in 2021 College Kindergarten teacher at Johnson Ranch Elementary School Current position
Texas State University, bachelor’s degree in animal science in 2018 College Trailer sales at D&D Texas Outtters; Waldrip Bros. Cattle Co. Current position
my junior year and at the end of my junior year, I received my registered dental assistant certication. So during my senior year in high school, I was also working as a dental assis- tant in the oce while doing school,” he said. For students looking to enter the teaching profession, CTE programs such as Ready, Set Teach place high school students in a classroom a few hours a week to learn from current teachers and interact with students. “I had kind of always known that I wanted to work with kids, but I wasn’t full-on sure if it was teaching I wanted to do, so I joined it my junior year, and I got to be in a classroom four days a week for two hours,” said Valerie Grona, a 2017 graduate of Smithson Valley High School and now a kindergarten teacher
at Johnson Ranch Elementary School. Grona said the experience showed her what being a teacher is all about and armed her interest in pursuing teaching as a career. While participating in the Ready, Set Teach program, Grona was able to work at the elementary school she went to and now teaches in. “That kind of came full circle for me,” she said “But really, it just kind of showed me what teachers do every single day and gave me a taste of it. It’s probably one of my most memo- rable things of high school was being ready to teach because it was the thing I looked forward to every day.”
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